Tamara's Story
by Tibidee
Summary: Tamara is a 6th year transfer student from Canada. She is greeted at Hogwarts with friendly faces but what happens to her is an experience she'll never forget. What will happen to her when she finds out the truth? Will her friends still like her? PLEASE R
1. The Hogwarts Express

Chapter 1 - The Hogwarts Express  
"Bye mom, I'll see you next year."  
  
"Bye hun. Have a fun year at school."  
  
Tamara White tucked her long brown hair behind her ears and climbed up onto the train. As the Hogwarts express rolled down the track Tamara continued to search for a seat, her aqua eyes wandering from compartment to compartment.  
  
"Is it really that hard to find a bloody seat in this place?" she found herself whispering rather harshly.  
  
She came to the last cart and stopped. As she took a deep breath she mumbled, 'please, please, please.' She slowly opened the door and asked, "is there a seat available?" There seemed like there was none but a girl, her age, with thick brown hair moved her stuff off the seat beside her and said,  
  
"Yeah sure, room for one more."  
  
Tamara smiled. "Thanks."  
  
She made her way through the little cubicle and sat in between the girl and the window. She looked head on to the two boys that looked her age as well, who sat across from her. One was a freckled red head and the other, hair black as night with circular-framed glasses.  
  
"I'm Ginny Weasley," said a girl who looked almost like the red headed boy though being a girl and all.  
  
They must be related, thought Tamara.  
  
Ginny seemed a bit younger then the boy and she was sitting on the other side of the brunette.  
  
"Nice to meet you, I'm Tamara White."  
  
"This is Hermione Granger," she pointed to the girl they both sat beside.  
  
"I think Hermione can speak for herself, Ginny," spoke her brother.  
  
"It's quite alright Ron," Hermione shot back.  
  
"Yeah any ways, I'm Ron, Ginny's my sister."  
  
Ginny just shrugged.  
  
"And I'm Harry," the other boy said and stuck out his hand and shook Tamara's.  
  
As he swept his hair out of his face, Tamara caught a glimpse of a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt across his forehead. Immediately she felt a jolt of excitement run through her. She heard of him and knew he went to this school but who knew she would have met him, especially so quickly.  
  
"You're Harry Potter aren't you?" Tamara tried to sound relaxed and cool but it didn't come out that way. She started out in a very high pitched voice but, as soon as she realized how stupid she must sound, she lowered her voice and sounded even worse. Kind of like a teletubbie going through puberty.  
  
She raised her eyes uncertainly as everyone else looked at her like she was an alien.  
  
"Yeah, I am," Harry admitted.  
  
"That's so cool!"  
  
Harry shrugged. "You're not from around here are you?"  
  
"No I'm not. I came from Canada actually."  
  
"Really!? What made you come all the way to England?" Hermione asked.  
  
"My father. His work demanded it. We had no choice."  
  
"Oh. From what part of Canada are you from?" Ginny pondered.  
  
"I'm from Toronto. I used to go to a school there called Toronto's School for Canadian Witches and Wizards."  
  
Hermione's eyes lit up.  
  
"I read about that school..."  
  
"Oh no here we go again," Ron exaggerated.  
  
"... They don't have quidditch do they? They have something along the lines though."  
  
"Yeah, it's called broom hockey. It's a mix of quidditch and hockey. You guys have heard of hockey right?"  
  
Ron and Ginny both exchanged curious glances.  
  
"I have and Hermione probably has as well. We live with muggles so..." Harry jumped in.  
  
"Well in this game we use half field hockey sticks, half broom sticks. How we play is there's field where we race a ball with our 'hockey' stick and try get it in the rivals net, just like field hockey. The goals on the ground are worth five points each." She looked around at all the intent faces looking upon her. "Here's the catch. Just like quidditch there is a high looped goal post on each side of the field. While a game is being played on the ground a game is being played in the air that is almost exactly like quidditch, with the same positions and everything except for only having one goal post. If you score there it's worth ten points.  
  
"Wow, that sounds so cool," exclaimed Ron. "But, uh, what's hockey and uh, what's a hockey stick?"  
  
Tamara smiled to herself and explained to him what they were. He seemed even more excited now.  
  
"We just kind of switch positions throughout the game, field players switch positions with broomstick flyers. I used to play back home. I loved it."  
  
"Sounds like a lot of fun. You know, have you ever thought about joining the quidditch team?" Harry enthused.  
  
"No not really, I was more worried about the kind of people I would meet. So far not bad at all."  
  
Harry gave a half smile.  
  
For the rest of the train ride to Hogwarts they continued to talk and to compare schools. Tamara seemed to get along really well with everyone and they all soon became friends. It was much darker out when the train began to slow down. Everyone seemed really happy to be back but Tamara was as nervous as ever. This was a completely new school to her and she was scarred because she heard that she had to be put into a house. What if she was put into a house she didn't want to be in? She heard that there was as house where most wizards went to it, turned out bad, for Voldemort had been in that house. What if she was placed in that house? What would happen to her if she were put into Slytherin? 


	2. Tamara's Sorting

Chapter 2 - Tamara's Sorting  
Tamara got off the train with her carry on and made her way through the crowd.  
  
"All fifth years, please meet Filch the care taker near the lamp-post over there," a gigantic, bushy haired, man named Hagrid shouted over the crowd of children who were excitedly chattering. He pointed over to a lamp- post that stood right beside a large sign that read 'Hogsmeade'. "All new comers, meet me at the boat dock just over there."  
  
"Well, I guess that means me. Bye you guys, I'll see you later," Tamara gave her farewell.  
  
"Bye," all three waved. "Hope you get into Gryffindor," Harry added.  
  
Tamara smiled and left, making her way through the crowd towards the boat dock. I hope I get into Gryffindor too, she secretly thought to herself.  
  
* * *  
  
The Great Hall was filled with students. Everyone was rushing around trying to find they're house table. When they all settled into their seats, the Headmaster Dumbledore stood up and everyone, in reaction, fell silent.  
  
"Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts. I hope you've all had a great summer and are back in the school spirit." There were a few groans at these words. "I'm sure we will have a great time this year and will all have fond memories going back home. There has been a little incident that occurred with the sorting hat earlier. Just today an animal got into my office and shredded the hat into pieces. We need to find all the pieces so that we can put it back together and we're missing a few so, until then we have a replacement." There came a wave of sudden whispers erupting from all the students.  
  
Professor Dumbledore picked up from beside his chair a very new looking wizards hat. It was a very attractive hat though the students wondered if it would be able to fit on the heads of the first years for, the hat was extremely large. From far away it looked black, but from what Tamara could see, it was a very dark shade of green.  
  
Tamara was sitting at the edge of the Ravenclaw table because it was placed closest to the hat, as she was instructed to do so. She was to be sorted first. The first years began to enter the Great Hall all with anxious looks on their faces and all seemed very fascinated by the enchanted ceiling which hung over the Great Hall like a large blanket, bewitched to look like the sky above. The sorting hat was placed on a stool that stood on the platform in which the staff table was. A lady with a tight bun glued to her head began to speak.  
  
"When I call your name you will come forward, sit on this stool and I will place this hat on your head. When it announces your house you will go to your house table and take a seat. Now, we have a new sixth year student that came all the way from Canada. She is our first exchange student in ten years so I would all like you to be very kind to her and help her adjust to this completely different school system. Tamara White, please step forward."  
  
Tamara got up and made her way, nervously, toward the stool. She heard a few whispers but didn't pay any attention to them. All eyes were on her and she didn't like it. It felt like they were all expecting her to do something, like a trick. She sat down and had the hat placed on her head which, draped over her eyes. She heard a voice in her ear, a woman's voice that began to speak.  
  
"Hmmm, you're very brave and loyal. Stubborn though, yes, very stubborn. Won't rest till you get your way." There was a moment of silence, a strange silence the hat gave.  
  
"Please don't put me in Slytherin, please don't. Gryffindor would be nice. Please," Tamara mumbled silently.  
  
Suddenly the hat yelled out, "SLYTHERIN!!!"  
  
It felt like time completely stopped. Tamara thought her heart did too. All she could hear was her breathing which, to her, seemed amplified by twenty. Nothing was in focus. Her mind was buzzing.  
  
I can't be in Slytherin, she thought. This must be a mistake. It gave me what I didn't want. She felt like crying.  
  
Finally everything came into focus again and she could hear the Slytherin table cheering.  
  
"Off you go," said the teacher.  
  
Tamara was so lost in thought she didn't even feel the hat being pulled off her head. She made her way over to her house table trembling. She passed the Gryffindors and saw Ron, Hermione and Harry look over at her. She smiled weakly and they returned her a sympathetic one. Tamara thought they wouldn't want to be her friend any more now that she was a Slytherin. She reluctantly sat down at her official house table between two girls, one with curly brown hair and the other had short dark brown hair. She sat across from a boy with slicked back blond hair. He was very pale and sandwiched between two large boys that appeared to be rather dimwitted. She remembered Ron describing them and warning her to stay away from them.  
  
The blond boy looked at her and stuck out his hand.  
  
"I'm Draco. This is Crabbe," he pointed to his right. "and this is Goyle," he pointed to his left.  
  
Tamara smelt trouble. She looked at his hand but didn't shake it.  
  
"Hi."  
  
She turned her attention to the dark haired girl who was starring at Draco like he was her God.  
  
"Hi! I'm Lindsey!" said the curly haired brunette happily.  
  
"Nice to meet you." She seemed nice and friendly.  
  
"And I'm Sarah," the Draco lover smiled.  
  
"I'm Tamara."  
  
Sarah seemed nice too.  
  
"So, you're like, from Canada 'eh'?" Joked Lindsey.  
  
"Yeah." Tamara was looking longingly over at her friends seated at the Gryffindor table.  
  
"What are you looking at?"  
  
"My friends."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Ron, Hermione, Harry and Ginny."  
  
"You serious!?"  
  
"Yeah, why?"  
  
"Omygosh, they're bad. I heard that Ron got so mad at Draco that he attacked him and turned him into a ferret, but of course with a good fight back from Draco. Ginny, apparently, got into the chamber of secrets and helped Voldemort. And all the teachers, well some, hate Harry cause he's such a bad kid. His own house mother took off fifty points from him cause he was sneaking around after hours. Am I not right Sarah?"  
  
Sarah was still starring at Draco.  
  
"Sarah?"  
  
"Hm? What?" Sarah looked up.  
  
"Am I not right?"  
  
"About what?"  
  
"The trio and that Ginny girl in Gryffindor. How they're bad kids."  
  
Sarah just shrugged, put her head in her hand, continued starring at Draco, and sighed.  
  
"Well they are."  
  
"Oh." What ever Lindsey said about her friends, she didn't believe it. They were so nice on the train that she doubted every word she heard.  
  
After all the first years finished sorting (she envied all the first year Gryffindors) Dumbledore stood and spoke once again.  
  
"The house you are in now will be like your family for all the years you will be in Hogwarts. Throughout the year you may collect points for your house, if done something good, but may lose points if done bad. At the end of the year the house with the most points will win the house cup. Now, let the feast begin." Suddenly all the plates on the tables filled with food. They had had a nice long meal accompanied by desert and after a few ending words from Professor Dumbledore about out of bound areas (the Forbidden Forest) slowly everyone made they're way to their house dormitories, Tamara still moving reluctantly though knowing she may have met at least one girl in Slytherin that actually didn't care about stupid stories about her Gryffindor friends and at least two people that did seem nice and may be possible future friends, Lindsey and Sarah. 


	3. A Hard Time Settling In

****

Chapter 3 - A Hard Time Settling In

As the Slytherins made their way down the corridor, Tamara noticed the Gryffindors separating and going the opposite way. She looked over to try and find her friends and saw Harry. He turned to look at the Slytherins to try and find Tamara and he caught her eye. They just looked at each other for a moment and Tamara gave a small wave which he returned.

* * *

The Slytherin party stopped in front of a stretch of bare, damp stone wall. An older boy, ('probably the Slytherin prefect,' Tamara thought), walked in front of the wall and turned to face the group. 

"Your password, at this moment in time, is 'Barren's Blood'." As he said this, a stone door, concealed in the wall, slid open. "To all first years, you will need to know this password because it is the only way to get into your common room. You must not forget it for it is very important. The password will be changed when found necessary or on a regular basis." And with that final word all the Slytherins entered.

The common room was a long, low room that seemed quite gloomy. The walls were made of rough stone and from the ceiling chains hung down supporting greenish lamps. There was a mantle piece at the end of the room with a powerful fire that blazed underneath it. The fire may have seemed welcoming to many but to Tamara nothing seemed to welcome her in this dark, underground room. All she wanted was to find the room, where she would spend the rest of her miserable nights at Hogwarts, sleeping in. The prefect began to speak again.

"Boys dormitories are on your left and girls are on your right. You will find all your belongings already in your rooms."

Tamara, right away, turned to her right and marched up the spiral steps to her dormitory. She came across a door that read in bold, black lettering 'First Years' and continued to drag herself up the staircase. She finally came across a door that read 'Sixth Years' and slowly opened it to find five, four-poster beds, one holding all of her belongings. She studied her bed. It was covered in a green comforter with white sheets beneath, moulded to its mattress. 

The room seemed cozy and suitable but something in the air around her sent a shiver up her spin. She knew something was not right. She felt she didn't belong here. She slowly walked over to her bed and sat on its cold blankets. Her bed was right next to the window and that pleased her. Tamara always loved to look out her window before bedtime and breathe in the freshness of the night air. Something about it was always comforting and it soothed her. She loved the feeling of the air in her lungs and on her face and she always lost herself in its serenity. It reminded her of home. But she wasn't at home. She loved Canada. It inspired her, for whatever reason, to be creative. She loved it. Canada was home to her and she was far away from it now. Nothing and no one to comfort her except her own thoughts. She felt hope when she met those kids on the train, they reminded of her own friends back home. 

She pulled all of her stuff off her bed and fell back onto its sheets letting her whole body relax. She looked up at the ceiling and wondered what would happen in the day to come. She set her head on the freezing pillow and glanced at the window. She got up and opened it, gazing out at the darkness of the Hogwarts grounds. She looked up at the sky and breathed in the air. It was cold and a swift breeze hit her face. A tear left her eye as she thought about her old home and closed the window a bit so a tiny gap was left to let air in. She jumped on her bed, face down on the pillow and let herself weep. As she cried she slowly drifted off into a deep sleep.

* * * 

The next day Tamara made her way to breakfast alone. She sat by herself and glanced over at the Gryffindor table. A thought came to her, 'can I sit at the Gryffindor table?' She looked down at her cloak which now bore the snake sign of Slytherin. No one said she couldn't sit with them. She glanced once more over at their table and spotted Hermione. She made up her mind and walked over to their table.

"Hey! How's it going?"

"Oh hi Tamara!" Hermione exclaimed. "How was, uh, your first night here?"

"It was okay." Tamara wanted to tell her the truth and therefore didn't hesitate. "I, I didn't like it. I really didn't. But I guess I need to keep an open mind." She knew it wouldn't happen though. "I wish I was in Gryffindor, with you guys, but there's not much I can do about that." She gave a weak smile.

Hermione looked sad. "I wish you were with us too."

Tamara just shrugged. "Look is it alright if I sit with you guys?"

"Sure, by all means! But the Slytherins-"

"-who cares about them. I don't talk to them any ways." She peered over at her house table to find half the table starring at her. As she looked at them and they stared back, she sat down beside Hermione, flipped her hair and turned around. Hermione giggled and Tamara couldn't help but smile.

"So where's Ron and Harry?"

"They should be on their way. Oh hold on... there they are," Hermione pointed to the two boys heading in their direction.

"Hey Tamara! What are you doing here?" asked Harry.

"Rather sit with friends."

They all began to talk and Tamara wanted to ask Harry something that had been bothering her for a while. She didn't want to hurt him and therefore didn't know how to word it.

"Um, Harry. I have a question I've been meaning to ask you. It's about the night you defeated You-Know-Who. Do you mind me asking?" She looked down at the table afraid of what his facial reaction would be.

"Sure, go ahead," responded Harry.

Tamara looked up into Harry's emerald green eyes. He had his glasses off and was attempting to clean them. A huge leap in her stomach decided to welcome itself into her system making her shift uncomfortably in her seat. It was strange seeing him without any glasses. He was very handsome without them. She knew she was blushing crimson. She couldn't imagine the pain he'd gone through at such a young age. She began having second thoughts about her question but she couldn't back out now...

"Do you, uh, remember anything at all from 'that' particular night? Like how it all happened? You don't have to answer that if you don't want." 

"No, no it's alright." Harry looked down at the table then looked up with a completely different expression. It was full of hatred and fear and pain. All the same he couldn't help but notice how pretty Tamara was. She had beautiful aqua eyes that sparkled in the light of the floating candles above their heads. Harry, lost for words, blushed. He finally got a hold of himself and said, "I, well, all I remember is a bright green light." He stopped for a second recalling his mothers shrieks for mercy in his head. He hated that sound. It just made him want to cry out for help. But it was done. I was the past. The past that haunted him so much. He swallowed hard. Tamara could sense something wrong. He was uncomfortable. She felt horrible for bringing up the subject. 

"I'm so sorry Harry. I shouldn't of asked." She looked at Ron who sat next to him. He looked worried and she shifted her gaze over to Hermione who showed an equal amount of anxiety as Ron. She felt even worse now. She looked back at Harry who seemed very interested with his fork. She got up from the table. Ron and Hermione looked up, Harry didn't. "I've got to go. I, I'll see you guys later." She looked over at Harry who was now admiring his knife. She turned on her heels and walked out of the Great Hall.


End file.
